Prison 'more reflective of where you're at,' judge says

IONIA COUNTY — A 26-year-old man from Allegan is headed to prison, after the judge told him that “in spite of county sanctions, nothing works with you.”

Luke Wilson was sentenced Tuesday in Ionia County 8th Circuit Court by Judge Ronald Schafer to serve 20 months to five years for first degree retail fraud. The count was enhanced with a second or subsequent offense notice, as Wilson was previously convicted of second degree retail fraud in 2015 in the 59th District Court in Grandville.

Wilson will receive credit for 24 days previously served, and must pay fines, costs and fees.

The offense occurred Jan. 27, 2016 at Meijer in Berlin Township, where Wilson stole property with a retail value of more than $200 but less than $1,000, according to court documents.

That item Wilson stole was a $500 drone, and the charge would have been a one-year misdemeanor, rather than a five-year felony, if not for Wilson’s prior retail fraud conviction, said Ionia County Prosecutor Kyle Butler.

Schafer told Wilson that he did not intend to follow the Killebrew plea agreement of five months, or even the sentencing guidelines of five to 23 months. Under a Killebrew agreement, the defendant can enter a guilty plea that they can withdraw if the judge’s sentence falls outside terms negotiated by the prosecutor and defense attorney. However, in this case, the court denied Wilson’s motion to withdraw.

“My belief is based on his activities while on bond to date, and after he served a sentence in jail after violating bond, and his activity after bond,” Schafer said. “He violates the terms of bond, he forfeits the right to withdraw his plea.”

Schafer noted that Wilson had already pleaded guilty to violating the terms of bond and had spent 15 days in jail, and that he was entitled to have a hearing on an additional three offenses that occurred while he has been on bond.

Butler told Schafer he agreed with the court’s decision to not follow the agreement, citing Wilson’s criminal activity after his plea and “his lack of ability to comply.”

Butler suggested the Swift and Sure program could be appropriate for Wilson, but probation agent Lori Bonn confirmed that, because Wilson lives outside of Ionia County, he is not eligible. Swift and Sure is an intensive probation supervision program that targets high-risk felony offenders with a history of probation violations or failures.

Wilson’s attorney, Walt Downes, asked the court to consider a jail sentence and work release, because his client has been “trying to better his life and be responsible for his actions.” Wilson has been employed for a month, Downes added.

“He has some positives going for him,” said Downes. “I ask the court to take that into consideration.”

Wilson told Schafer that he has been working to turn his life around.

“I know that my history does not look like I’m a positive member of society. The last eight months I’ve been trying to change that,” said Wilson. “I have a wonderful woman behind me, helping me get back on track with the things I want to do. I ask you to try to help me so I can help her.”

“You say you’re trying to turn things around and help this ‘wonderful woman,’” Schafer responded. “The world is full of women trying to fix men like you that are undeserving.”

After going off the record to check on the dates of Wilson’s recent brushes with the law, Schafer detailed a number of them — back on the record — that occurred between Wilson’s pleading guilty to the current charge, being released on bond and Tuesday’s sentencing. These included three charges of driving while license suspended and another retail fraud charge in Van Buren County.

Since Wilson pleaded guilty to retail fraud in Ionia County on June 29, 2016, he also had a bench warrant for his arrest for failure to appear for his pre-sentencing investigation report interview on Oct. 16, 2016, Butler said Tuesday afternoon. Wilson was arraigned on that in January 2017, then failed to appear on a July bench warrant arraignment, and has been in and out of jail.

“You’re telling me for the past seven months you’ve been getting your life on track,” Schafer said to Wilson.

“I have a good job, with room to move up fairly quickly, and a family to support,” Wilson told the court. “Could I do weekends in jail so I can support my family?”

Schafer noted that Wilson’s attorney had worked out “an unbelievable deal (that was) too good to be true.”

“If anyone reviewed this with a fine-tooth comb … you had a lengthy criminal history that went on for several pages, at least eight or nine prior offenses. It was also known at that time you had a history of doing really poorly on supervision — in fact, you had gone to prison and failed there at boot camp,” Schafer said. “It was known at the time of the deal that you'd been given lots of opportunity to alter your behavior throughout your adulthood. … Just to really tie your own hands and everybody else's, you made sure you engaged in the same kind of behavior.”

After again outlining the path that Wilson has taken in his life, Schafer added, “You risked all the things you talked about this morning. You keep doing that, even while on bond, so you have clearly demonstrated to the court that you have no interest in curtailing your criminal behavior and being a law-abiding citizen … I think this sentence (to prison for 20 months) is more reflective of where you’re at and what you’ve demonstrated in your short life.”

Following his pronouncement of sentence, Schafer asked Wilson if he had any questions.

“How do I go about an appeal?” Wilson replied.

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